


Closer Than Sisters

by Tam_Cranver



Category: Nicholas Nickleby - Dickens
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-04
Updated: 2010-04-04
Packaged: 2017-10-08 17:19:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tam_Cranver/pseuds/Tam_Cranver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Madeline's definition of "family" expands in some unexpected ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closer Than Sisters

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in an AU in which Smike survives the end of the novel.

The concept of family had never meant much to Madeline. Her only experience with that sweet, intangible idea had been her father. As drunk as he was, as spendthrift, as harsh with her, she clung to him, but he had never given her what she had learned to expect from the word "family." Gradually, the word had ceased to be the standard her father failed to meet. It had become a bitter reminder of Mother's death, and their poverty, and a loneliness a thousand little watercolors could not express.

Then she had met Nicholas.

And suddenly the word "family" expanded for Madeline, to include a silly mother-in-law and a sweet sister and brother and a pair of jovial uncles and a slow, good-natured cousin. And, of course, Nicholas, who was the center of Madeline's little family.

Perhaps other women would have resented sharing their home with their mother-in-law and cousin-in-law. Perhaps others would have sighed in exasperation at Mrs. Nickleby's flights of fancy, or gritted their teeth at Smike's inability to buy groceries without help. Perhaps other young wives would have been jealous of the time their husbands spent with sisters and cousins and mothers. But Madeline was used to loneliness. She was used to hard work. The mere sensation of being surrounded by people who cared for her, who would help share her burden, was so novel and pleasant that she found she could bear even the most tiresome of Mrs. Nickleby's natterings with a smile.

And if Smike looked at Nicholas with the helpless look of a lovesick suitor, and if Nicholas seemed at times to kiss him more than his position of invalid cousin merited—well, Madeline had come to be very fond of Smike, and Nicholas's kisses were all the sweeter for knowing that she had married a man with a great capacity for love, and that of all the people and things he loved, only she was his wife.

And she wasn't just a wife. Kate, who had, for a time, been wonderfully efficient but hesitant to extend her heart, became the dearest friend Madeline had ever known after their acquaintance had had time to develop. A sister, and even more. The love they shared was special, separate from all others in the world, and it warmed them both while their husbands worked during the day.

When Kate had first kissed her, Madeline had started, had drawn back in fear. But Kate's was a brave but gentle soul, and Madeline soon found herself drawn back into cheerful aura of her company. She had feared Nicholas's anger, still, and told Kate this.

"Oh, Madeline," Kate had said, tenderly fingering a lock of Madeline's hair, "do you really think Nicholas would fault us for loving one another?"

Madeline was forced to admit that it would greatly contradict what she could discern of Nicholas's behavior.

"And if he does," said Kate, with spirit, "who is to say that we could not fault him for the same crime?" Madeline laughed, for if there was one crime of which Nicholas could quite justly be accused, it was loving.

And so when Kate was worn to tears by Smike's persistent illnesses, and when loneliness battered at Madeline's tender and ill-used heart, they comforted each other as dear friends do. And when this comfort proved insufficient, they comforted each other as lovers do.

For while it must be owned that Madeline preferred the marital embrace above all other physical comforts, there were times when Kate's soft hands could bring her to pleasure in a way whose differences were quite refreshing. And indeed, it could not be denied that Kate's tongue was capable of many marvels, and Madeline had not been brought up to let a person do her a kindness without trying to return it. And Kate, as fair as her brother was dark, was as lovely a partner for any endeavor as any sensible person could desire. Thus, between their shared caresses and the more conventional comforts their husbands provided, Kate and Madeline got on quite well.

They did not discuss it with Nicholas and Frank, or indeed with anyone at all (though Madeline suspected that Smike knew, in his own fashion). But one evening, while they all sat about the table and ate their supper, Madeline happened to say something about the artistic process that Kate found particularly fine, and she kissed her quite soundly on the mouth.

Madeline was quite startled by this, and feared the worst from the rest of those present. She was quite surprised, when she looked around the table, to find that Tim Linkinwater and Miss La Creevy had not even noticed, but had gone on staring into each other's eyes. The Cheeryble brothers, who frequently kissed each other thus, only laughed jovially. Mrs. Nickleby wondered aloud at the fate of one of her friends from school, a girl she had liked so well that she had thought nothing of kissing her as a sister would. Her name was Sarah Something, or perhaps Susan, but at any rate she had been very well off, and the two of them had been invited often to dine with the local gentry, who frequently mistook them for sisters. Smike blushed and buried his gaze in the potatoes on his plate, and Frank grinned saucily and clapped Smike on the shoulder.

Madeline had most of all feared Nicholas's reply, but the warmth in his gaze as he smiled at her made her think she had been foolish to fear at all. She suddenly felt as if every other sense she had attached to the word "family" had lost all meaning. This was all that "family" need ever mean for her.

Kate murmured, "I thought that this was how it would be." Madeline's answering smile was quite heartfelt.


End file.
